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Hearing Letter 21: The Part 279 Appeal to the State Review Officer: Use the Official Form

When to Use It

Use this when you intend to appeal an impartial hearing officer’s decision to a State Review Officer. The appeal runs under Part 279, and it turns on separate service and filing deadlines that end New York appeals on the calendar rather than the merits, so a defective service or filing package can be dismissed without any review of your arguments. Do not draft this from scratch and do not recreate the official documents from memory, because that is what causes dismissals. The Office of State Review publishes the current Form A, and the safe course is to obtain that Form A and follow it exactly, using this unit only as the plain-language checklist around it.

The sequence has three moves. First, personally serve the opposing party with the notice of intention to seek review and the Case Information Statement within 25 days of the date of the IHO decision. Second, personally serve the opposing party with the notice of request for review and the request for review, the document that states the findings and conclusions you are challenging and the relief you seek, within 40 days of the decision (the request for review is the brief, and H-Tool 71 owns its drafting). Third, file the required papers together with your proof of service with the Office of State Review within 2 days after you serve. Serve the opposing party itself; do not serve the district’s attorney to accomplish service unless that attorney has an established authorization to accept service on the party’s behalf. After you serve the request for review, the opposing party may serve an answer and may cross-appeal the parts of the decision it lost, and if you are the responding party rather than the appealing party, the same Part 279 rules give you an answer and a cross-appeal on that timeline; calendar those responses too.

As checked July 25, 2026, the 25-day notice, 40-day request-for-review service, and 2-day post-service filing requirements appear in 8 NYCRR §§ 279.2 and 279.4. Form A supplies the current forms and instructions. These requirements can change and a mistake can end the appeal, so recheck the live Office of State Review instructions, current Part 279 text, and Form A immediately before service.

Send it to: the opposing party, by personal service (not the district’s attorney unless that attorney is authorized to accept service), and file with the Office of State Review, as the current Part 279 instructions and Form A direct.